Creations
by Melora Maxwell
Summary: Out of all the Decepticons, only Soundwave knows about the insanity and benefits of raising a family, especially when that family consists of the Cassettes...
1. Part 1: Ravage

A/N: Since I'm in a good mood due to real life being nice to me (I got into postgraduate study!), I'm back into my Transformers groove, and writing Soundwave and cassette drabbles again.

* * *

Disclaimer: I own nothing but the character Nightraider. Hasbro and Takara own Transformers. Sigh.

N.B: This is meant to be vaguely chronological, emphasis on vague, and if the characters of the Cassettes seem a wee bit off…you'll soon see why.

_Italics_ denote telepathy.

* * *

**Creations: Part 1 - Ravage**

* * *

**Cybertron - City State of Iacon…**

* * *

'Report: status of creation?'

Chief Medical Officer Nightraider offered the exhausted scientist a reassuring smile as she turned and led him through the online bay, ignoring the stares of several other mechs and femmes as they passed.

'Prognosis is excellent – the spark's taken well to the frame, and he just took his first ration of low-grade a few breems ago.'

Soundwave's optics widened imperceptibly under his visor. 'Gender designation: mech?'

The black and red jet femme nodded and directed him towards a curtained area at the end of the bay.

'A healthy little mech. Rather aggressive as well, you might want to get that under control.'

'Recommendation: unnecessary but appreciated.'

The scientist pulled back the curtains and gazed down at the berth with proud optics as he felt his spark pulse in silent unison with that of his creation.

He studied the matte-black body, liberally bedecked with metal claws easily the size of his own hands. The head was slightly too small in relation to the body, but that could be improved with time and upgrades. Two sets of steel teeth, already razor sharp, gleamed at the corners of the slightly open mouth, while the sensitive nasal unit sniffed the air, already picking up the scent of the new arrival.

For a being which closely resembled one of the Great Un-maker's personal Pit demons, the sparkling did look oddly…sweet.

But strictly in an 'oh-dear-Primus-stop-chewing-on-my-internals' kind of way.

Sitting on his haunches, the vaguely feline sparkling stared up at the new arrival with wide scarlet optics and felt his spark change its rhythm ever so slightly.

Why, he didn't know. But this new mech, he was…he _felt_ safe. His newly online processor wasn't yet capable of working out the connection between this sensation and the mech before him, but it was a nice feeling.

He ran his glossa over a massive paw and scrubbed at a sticky patch of energon on his cheek.

Nightraider made a discreet exit as Soundwave carefully sat down next to the berth and watched as the little mech crawled over to him, studying his face with curiosity.

A yawn almost split the sparkling's face in two as he settled down next to the scientist.

'Mmmrowr?'

Soundwave blinked.

Limited vocal ability, if any ability at all.

Nightraider hadn't mentioned _this_.

'Mrowrl?'

…Right. He was a scientist. He wasn't going to let this stop him talking with his creation.

He ran a brief mental scan on the sparkling's frame and felt a brief flicker of relief as he picked up the same telepathic traces as his own within the little mech. That was one problem out of the way at least.

For the first time in many vorns, he let his metal shields drop a fraction, just enough for this…

_Can you understand me?_

The little mech blinked, and frowned.

…_Yes…Who are you?_

_My name is Soundwave. Designation: scientist. I am your creator. What do you believe your name is?_

The sparkling concentrated.

_…I think my name is Ravage. Does that sound right?_

His optics softening ever so slightly, Soundwave nodded.

_Then Ravage you shall be._

His creation purred, and snuggled into his creator's arm, shutting his optics for a nap. The scientist tensed slightly before registering the actions as affectionate, and smiled a little wider under his facemask as he carefully stroked Ravage's back.

* * *

**The Nemesis, several million years later…**

* * *

Ravage snarled and neatly gave his creator the evil eye.

_I'm eight million years old, Soundwave! I'm not a sparkling any more!_

Soundwave quietly rolled his optics.

'By Cybertronian standards, yes. By Earth standards, you are but a child in your new form.'

The mechanoid feline's optics narrowed even further. _This whole adapting-to-Earth thing's just your excuse to make me go through some sort of second youngling-hood, isn't it?_

'I would not be adverse to that possibility. You were considerably more acquiescent at that age. But I will not tolerate any argument. You will remain on board the _Nemesis_ until your new form has been _properly_ tested and all necessary antivirus patches have been installed.'

_You're treating me like a sparkling!!_

'Because you are acting like one.'

_Am not._

'You are.'

_Not._

'You are.'

_Not!_

The Communications officer sighed, removed a small shiny item from his subspace, and rolled it across the floor of his quarters towards the sulking cat-bot.

Ravage reverted instantly to sparkling-mode and started to bat the ball of steel wool across the floor with his paws, mewing and purring contentedly all the while.

Manipulative, but extremely effective.

'I believe my point has been proven.'

Ravage let out a little mew of joy as he rolled onto his back, balanced the ball between his front paws and started chomping at the steel threads.

_Don'tcaredon'tcareplayplayplayplayplayplayplay!!_

Some small dusty component within the tape-deck 'Con's RAM chip, tucked away at the back of his CPU, activated just long enough to muse that his eldest creation did look rather sweet when he wasn't constantly trying to act his considerable age.

He then felt slightly disgusted that he had even thought of the idea.

* * *

TBC


	2. Part 2: Rumble and Frenzy

A/N: I like to think Soundwave loves the Cassettes in a strange, slightly-emotionless-but-not kinda way, so I just hope that's what other people believe!

* * *

Disclaimer: Still don't own Transformers, wish I did. Just own Nightraider, poor femme.

_Italics_ denote telepathy.

* * *

**Creations: Part 2 – Rumble and Frenzy**

* * *

**Cybertron, City State of Iacon…**

* * *

As Ravage gently cuddled into his leg and offered a purr of support, Soundwave was under the growing impression that the waiting was probably the worst aspect of the onlining process.

The tension of not knowing if the spark would take to the frame, if it would survive the onlining process, even the very real possibility that it might not survive being separated from its parent spark…

Soundwave's last energon ration lurched unpleasantly against the lubricant within his tanks as he gently ran his hand down Ravage's back.

The feline looked up at his exhausted creator and frowned. _When will it be ready to see us?_

_Onlining is a complicated process, one which cannot be accurately measured._

Ravage blinked. _Will the spark be alright?_

Soundwave tilted his head, and carefully lifted his first-online into his lap, letting Ravage's head rest as close to his spark as he could manage.

_It is my sincere hope that it will. For now, we must be patient and--_

'SOUNDWAVE!!'

The scientist's head snapped up, rare panic flashing in his optics. Ravage tensed and leapt up onto his creator's shoulder as Soundwave stood up and bolted through the door of the online bay, all protocol be slagged…

Both creation and creator stared in confusion at the scene before them.

Several of the nurse-bots were darting around the bay, screaming in what Soundwave quickly determined to be outrage, combined with a healthy dose of disbelief. Nightraider was hovering in the midst of the chaos, both sedative guns primed and trying to get a target lock onto what seemed to resemble two hysterically giggling blurs of red and blue chasing after each other with unidentifiable medical instruments.

'Situation: report?'

The femme CMO glared at him with a gaze which clearly stated that Soundwave should be ready to make his excuses to Primus if he didn't rectify the situation immediately.

'Those two glitched. Little. Aft-headed. Mechs. Are. Yours. **Deal with them**.'

Soundwave glanced at the red and blue blurs, and then back at the jet.

'Number: conflicting. Spark provided: one.'

Nightraider floated over to him and grabbed him unceremoniously by his neck collar.

'It divided after separation, the little fraggers both came online at the same instant, right down to the astro-second, and as of this precise moment in time, I will have no problems in being the first and last thing they ever see if you don't _get them the slag out of my online bay_!!'

'Request: understood.'

The twin blurs had halted at the sound of the newcomer's voice, and now quietly came forward, staring upwards in awe.

Nightraider let Soundwave fall out of her grasp and watched as the navy-blue mech bent down to study his newest creations, Ravage still perched on his shoulder.

Both were identical in frame design, even down to the shape of their helms. The only real difference bar their colouring was their eyeshades; the blue mech wore a red visor over his optics, while the red one boasted a grey visor. Both, ominously, were wearing grins the size of Thunderhead Pass, sending a thrill of dread through Soundwave's spark.

On the bright side, there would be no need to speak telepathically to them as he had done for so long with Ravage…

'Are you aware of your designations?'

The red mech jerked a thumb at his twin. 'He's Rumble, I'm Frenzy. Who the Pit are you guys?'

Ravage glared and growled. Soundwave intervened quickly. 'This is your older sibling, Ravage, and I am known as Soundwave. I am your creator, and I will not tolerate such language from you, Frenzy.'

Rumble grinned smugly at the look on his brother's face. 'First time meetin' the boss-mech and you start talkin' out your aft. Nice goin', bro.'

'Nor from you, Rumble.'

'Eeep. Zip the lips; we got it.'

Ravage eyed his younger siblings with a superior eye. _I believe I was much better behaved when I came online._

Frenzy rested his hands on his hips and glared up at the feline sitting on his creator's shoulder. 'Oh yeah? Come down _here_ an' say that, kittykat!'

_Gladly!_

The mechanoid feline launched himself at the red twin's throat with a snarl. Rumble was quick to join in with a war-whoop as the trio proceeded to roll around in a snarling, swearing ball on the floor of the online bay.

Soundwave sighed and shared a rare deadpan look with Nightraider.

Well, at least they were communicating.

If violently.

* * *

**The Nemesis, several million years later…**

* * *

The Communications officer still wasn't entirely sure how he'd been persuaded into taking part in the activities, but as Rumble had put it oh so bluntly, it wasn't like he was doing anything else with his off-duty time.

And in the depths of his spark, he knew that he could never refuse a request from any of his creations to spend time with them.

He stared at the oversized control pad in his hands and waited patiently as Rumble set up the Game Cube and quickly skipped through the opening sequence.

The familiar title music of 'Super Smash Bros. Melee' blared through the speakers as the Character Selection screen appeared.

'So who you playin' as, boss?'

Frenzy wiggled the joystick on his controller until it hovered over Captain Falcon's avatar.

Soundwave merely shifted the joystick on his controller over his preferred fighter. 'Mewtwo.'

Rumble groaned as he selected Ganondorf.

'Awww, c'mon! You always go as Mewtwo! Try a bit of variety – play as Samus, you're good with Samus!' (1)

'If my selection irritates you, I can always decline to play.'

'Nononononononononononononoooo!! Stay!!'

'What he said!! It's no fun unless _you_ play as well!!'

The Communications officer was inwardly relieved that neither of the twins could see the smirk under his facemask.

'Stage selection?'

Frenzy managed to select his preferred stage before his brother had a chance to complain.

'Final Destination. Let's get ready to--'

'Don't even _think_ of finishin' that line.'

'You're no fun bro.'

The three characters activating on-screen quickly curtailed any signs of argument.

Seven minutes of battle later, punctuated with a rather lyrical chorus of complaints and obscenity, saw the twins groaning in tandem as they watched Mewtwo finishing his victor's pose.

Rumble mock-pouted and stared up at Soundwave, who simply looked smug. Or as smug as he could with a visor, facemask, and superior mental/emotional control.

'How'd you do that?'

'Mewtwo requires the use of tactics. He may not be fast or straightforward to control, but his strength and abilities make up for his deficiencies.'

Frenzy smirked. 'Let's not mention that he's a psychic as well.'

'It is a minor advantage.'

'Meh.'

The trio of mechs scrolled through the post-fight stats in companionable silence for a while.

Rumble was the first to glance at his brother and creator.

'…Best two outta three?'

* * *

TBC

(1) I get this off my mates all the time when I play Smash Bros.


	3. Part 3: Buzzsaw and Laserbeak

A/N: This drabble may be a wee bit weaker than the others, but Buzzsaw and Laserbeak don't exactly strike me as the mischievous type.

* * *

Disclaimer: Still don't own Transformers, still just own Nightraider.

N.B.: Laserbeak is a femme in all of my Transformers fics – just so everyone knows!

_Italics_ denote telepathy.

* * *

**Creations: Part 3 – Buzzsaw and Laserbeak**

* * *

**Cybertron, City State of Iacon…**

* * *

This _sucked_.

He could be out raising merry Pit with Rumble, or cruising for femmes over at Maccadam's Old Oil House, but noooo. They all had to be here just to meet'n'greet their new siblings, and there didn't seem to be any sign of the new guys so far.

All he could see was his brother perched on top of Soundwave's shoulder cannon playing something on his portable game station, and Ravage was curled up in his creator's lap, optics shut as he took a brief snooze. Soundwave and the hot femme CMO were talking, but it didn't seem like anything major was going on.

Deciding neither of his siblings were about to provide any kind of distraction, Frenzy opted to listen in to the conversation between the femme jet and the scientist, just for the entertainment value.

'…Quite unusual for a set of twins, but there's no foreseeable difficulties.'

'Femme design: equal to mech design?'

Rumble flicked off his game station and shared a look with his brother, now sitting upright and listening with wide optics.

A femme?

They had a _sister_ now?

Nightraider tried not to laugh as she watched Soundwave's eldest set of twins tune into the discussion.

'There are a few minor structural differences; the femme is a slightly smaller build and a sleeker design, but essentially they are identical. So…they're ready to meet you if you'd…' The black and red jet gestured towards the door of the online bay.

Ravage yawned and leapt up to perch next to Frenzy as Soundwave stood and strode into the bay, optics scanning the berths for his newest charges.

'These are the ones.'

Nightraider led him over to a berth close to the doors and pulled the curtains around the bay before absenting herself. Soundwave carefully scrutinised each of his creations as he sat down next to the berth, while Rumble, Frenzy and Ravage scrambled off their creator's shoulders and crawled over to get a better look at their siblings.

Both of them resembled cyber-hawks, a long-extinct avian species. The golden one was easily identifiable as a mech, his optics narrowing as his siblings drew closer. In turn, he kept one wing resting on his sister's scarlet back, and let her snuggle close to him as she stared at the newcomers.

Rumble squinted and tilted his head. 'Sooooooo…we have _birds_ for a brother and sister, that it?'

'Rumble, silence.'

'Great. Tweet-tweet an' all that.'

'And you, Frenzy.'

Ravage opted not to move any closer. He could see the yellow mech was getting ready to strike anyone who so much as emptied their cooling vents near his twin.

_I am Ravage, the eldest creation of Soundwave. I am your brother, and I greet you as family._

The two hawks ruffled their wings and met his gaze with something approaching recognition. The scarlet sibling was the first to offer a tentative telepathic voice.

_Brother? Our creator is yours?_

_Yes, sister._

The red hawk's optics flashed as she looked up at her twin and back at her eldest brother. _I am…Laserbeak. My brother is…Buzzsaw._

_Welcome, Laserbeak and Buzzsaw._

Ravage glanced back at Soundwave, and purred as he felt one giant hand gently stroke down his back. 'Most elegantly done, Ravage.'

Rumble pouted. 'Hey. And we're _not_ elegant?'

Buzzsaw glanced between Rumble, Frenzy and Soundwave. _Are these two also our siblings?_

_Unfortunately, yes._

'Oh, yeah, sure, that's a _real_ nice way t' talk about your beloved lil' brothers, _Rav_.'

_What exactly is that charming phrase you often use, Frenzy? 'Put a cobalt cork in it?'_

Laserbeak sighed and stared up at her creator.

_It is alright, Soundwave. You can tell us if they were foundlings._

Soundwave rubbed the bridge of his nose and held back a long-suffering groan.

Why he had decided to put himself through _this_ again, Primus only knew.

* * *

**The Nemesis, several million years later…**

* * *

'Your mission was successful, I understand?'

Buzzsaw cawed and straightened his neck proudly. _Lord Megatron believes there may be an energon cache somewhere at the edge of the park's boundaries. The images he requested are now in the ship's databanks._

The Communications officer narrowed his optics at the yellow condor's choice of words.

'The 'images he requested.' So there are more than those you gave to him.'

Laserbeak tilted her head down and to the side, the closest she ever came to an embarrassed smile.

_He never specified that we could not perform a little…personal reconnaissance._

'How many gigabytes of images did you take?'

The condors shared a glance before Buzzsaw looked up.

_Approximately five gigs between us. The light in the Grand Canyon was simply astounding – Laserbeak recorded some wonderful pictures._

Soundwave knew he was meant to discipline his creations for twisting Megatron's orders for their own gain, but when it was his youngest set of twins staring up at him with shining ruby optics and practically vibrating with excitement…

Well, maybe it could wait.

Laserbeak twitched her wings. _Not just images. We have audio recordings!_

_That_ caught the tape-deck 'Con's attention. '…Audio recordings?'

The yellow condor nodded in glee. Several million years spent with Soundwave meant that he and his siblings all knew exactly what would turn their creator's gears.

_We were resting near one of the squishy settlements on one of their festival days; we recorded images of the celebrations, but…the songs! They sound so **different** to Cybertronian music! Listen!_

Before Soundwave could offer a word of protest, a deep male vocal tone issued from Buzzsaw's stereo systems, joined by the irresistible sound of drums and rattles.

The sharper whistling tone of a Native American flute appeared and began to lead the notes produced by the voices and other instruments in a song that, while Soundwave did not recognise it, seemed to be identifiable as a hymn of celebration.

Very different, but remarkably pleasant.

As he gathered Buzzsaw and Laserbeak into his arms and settled himself against his bunk, Soundwave came to the conclusion that this was _maybe_ one of the rare occasions where discipline of his creations would not be required.

His opinion was quickly upgraded to _definitely_ as soon as Laserbeak activated her databanks and projected the images of the Grand Canyon at sunset onto the far wall of his quarters, in perfect time to the music.

* * *

TBC


	4. Part 4: Ratbat

A/N: Considering the demand for Ratbat's chapter, I feel I should try my hardest to make it good. So…hey, I've tried. Longer than the others, but I love the lil' guy.

* * *

Disclaimer: I own Nightraider and that's it. All else to do with Transformers is the property of Hasbro and Takara.

Warnings: Nothing too drastic, but this part does deal with some bleak stuff and a very sickly lil' sparkling.

_Italics_ denote telepathy.

* * *

**Creations: Part 4 – Ratbat**

* * *

**Cybertron, City State of Iacon…**

* * *

'…Too dangerous to try again…'

'…If the sparkling even survives the orn…'

_Where…where am I…?_

He tried to move his arm and groaned aloud at the pain.

'He moved!'

'You are delusional from exhaustion, Nightraider. He cannot be conscious after the dose of sedatives he received.'

'I know my patient, Shockwave. Soundwave? Can you hear me? Just nod if you can hear me.'

He managed to obey despite the pain coursing through his circuits. A gentle pair of arms managed to lift him high enough to sit up on the…operating berth?

His CPU finally and painfully finished its reboot. Barely an astro-second later, Soundwave's optics flew open as he recalled where he was, and more importantly, what the femme jet had said about a sparkling…

'Status?'

Nightraider's exhausted expression grew darker as she stared at him.

'There were…complications. The spark divided earlier than we had anticipated, and then refused to separate from yours; why, we don't know, but we nearly lost you both. You were losing control, the sparkling was fading – we had to intervene. Hence why I summoned Shockwave.'

The scientist spared a glance at his purple colleague, calmly wiping his hands on a cleaning rag, his single optic unreadable as always as he took over from the black and red jet.

'The intervention required surgery on a complex scale. Both you and your creation survived, but the damage to your own spark has now rendered you incapable of spark-bearing. Attempting to spawn another spark will take you permanently offline.'

Soundwave's hands clenched into fists as he fixed his optics on his berth.

'Sparkling: status?'

Emotion was clearly audible in the femme's voice as she laid a hand on his shoulder.

'…Oh Primus, this never gets any easier…it's not good.'

The navy mech dragged his optics away from staring at his berth to look at the CMO.

'Define: not good.'

Nightraider closed her optics. 'It's a premature mech. **Severely** premature. We managed to get him to take to a frame, but he's unstable. Believe me, we're doing all we can, but the prognosis…Soundwave, you have to be prepared to let him rejoin the Matrix if his status doesn't improve.'

'Situation: noted and understood.'

The femme nodded quietly and gestured for Shockwave to follow her out of the bay. 'Get some recharge. The rest of your creations have been notified, and will be allowed to visit you in a few joors. We'll let you know if there's the slightest change.'

Soundwave didn't bother replying as he lay back on the berth, folded his arms across his chest, closed his optics and silently reflected on this new turn of events.

Incapable of spark-bearing. Sterile. He had always been aware of the risks of solitary spark-bearing, Nightraider had always made them clear to him, but this…

And now his youngest creation was fighting to stay online.

Another little mech. Laserbeak would no longer be the youngest; she had been looking forward to that prospect. Rumble and Frenzy had been hoping for another brother. Buzzsaw and Ravage had been contentedly arguing for the past two orns as to what form it might take...the notion of _his_ sparkling returning to the Matrix before he could see his creator and siblings…

As his hand clenched over his spark-chamber, Soundwave idly mused that he would need to perform some repairs to his visual systems once he was released from the medical bay. It was hardly within normal operating parameters for his optical fluid ducts to be leaking lubricant at such an extreme rate.

* * *

Laserbeak leaned against Buzzsaw and nuzzled into the crook of his wing joint. Rumble and Frenzy huddled closer to each other and gripped each other's hands as they sat next to Soundwave. From his resting place in his creator's lap, Ravage couldn't find it anywhere in his spark to mock their actions as they waited outside the online bay for the first sign of news.

'You reckon he'll be a flier?'

Frenzy's question roused the entire group from their stupor. Ravage cocked his head at his brothers and frowned slightly.

_What makes you say that?_

'Well…three of us are ground mechs. 'Saw and 'Beak are both fliers. Never know, the lil' guy might be another flier. Balance the group out, y'know?'

Any answer back from any of the group was terminated as Nightraider emerged from the online bay, a small smile on her face.

Soundwave immediately picked up on the gesture and felt the pressure around his spark ease ever so slightly.

'Status?'

'He's considerably more stable after his energon transfusion, but he's still weak. We're keeping him in a heat chamber to force the spark to remain within his frame.'

Rumble was the first to speak. 'C-Can we go see him? Talk to him?'

The femme's smile widened. 'I see no reason why not. Actually, it would probably speed up the recovery process if he could be with his family.'

All five creations shared a look, transformed to their alt-modes, and slid to rest within Soundwave's storage deck as he stood and followed Nightraider into the online bay.

* * *

The sparkling felt quite sleepy as the nurse-femme checking his vital signs tucked his blanket more tightly around him. She felt warm, very gentle, but her spark felt wrong.

It wasn't a spark like _his_.

He wanted the spark like his to come, and make him stop feeling so tired and sore. He remembered feeling so scared, and everything had hurt so much, and he had cried after leaving that shining place filled with so much warmth and light and _love_…

Somehow, he knew he couldn't go back to that place again, not for a long time, but to be close to the spark that felt like his, that would be enough. The spark like his that was so old, but filled with that same warmth and light and love…

'Hello, little one.'

He knew this spark. It belonged to a femme, the one who was in charge, who was looking after him so carefully. Her spark was old, maybe as old as the shining place, but she felt like kindness, concern…she felt nice.

'There's someone here to see you. Someone you might know…'

He blinked and snuggled further into his blanket. Someone who he knew…?

The warmth enveloped him as he felt himself being lifted from his cot and cuddled against a broad chest. A small squeak of joy erupted from his vocal unit as he felt the spark like his pulse in time with his own.

This was the one. The warmth, the light, the love…all for him!

A voice echoed softly within his mind, soothing the pain in his tiny frame.

_Greetings, young one. I am Soundwave, your creator, and I have waited to meet you for so very long._

The little mech burrowed closer to his creator's chest and chirruped.

_Do you know your name?_

The sparkling concentrated.

_Me…Ratbat._

More voices began to echo within his mind, not his creator's, but ones like him, ones who shared in the warmth and love.

_Ratbat. I am Ravage. Welcome, my little brother._

_Hey! The name's Rumble. Howzit hanging, lil' bro?_

_Smooth, Rumble, way to freak the lil' guy. Name's Frenzy, Rumble's twin, and the best looking mech on Cybertron._

_Ignore both of them. Buzzsaw, artiste and flier extraordinaire._

_Only next to **me**. I am Laserbeak, twin of Buzzsaw, and I am your older sister, little glitchmouse._

Ratbat giggled at the voices and shut his optics, finally falling into a pain-free nap. Soundwave tightened his hold on his youngest creation and began to walk slowly around the heat chamber, letting his fears slowly crumble away as Ratbat began to snore.

He could work on the snoring when it was time for Ratbat's upgrade, he felt certain of it.

* * *

**The Nemesis, several million years later…**

* * *

Somewhere within the depths of his CPU, Soundwave had to applaud Ratbat's actions.

The seas could turn to energon and it could be a month of full moons, but one thing that would never change was how well the big-adorable-shining-optics routine worked on the Communications officer.

His approval was tempered somewhat by his attempt to work out the sheer mechanics of how exactly Ratbat had managed to drag a Lotus Exige back to the Nemesis by his teeth.

'Is an explanation of your actions forthcoming?'

Ratbat shuffled his feet and tried to widen his optics just a smidgen more.

It didn't work.

Soundwave folded his arms and continued to stare down at his youngest creation. 'Ratbat. Explain.'

_Ummm…I was thirsty?_

'If you are thirsty, you need only to consume half of the fuel tank at most and depart, not bring the entire chassis back to base.'

The little bat jutted his lower lip into an impressive pout.

_But you said I could have a new toy if I was reeeeeeeeeeeaaaally well-behaved on the last mission and I was 'cos I helped Ravage squish one of the minibots and got away just like you told me to and you never break a promise and pleeeeeeeeeeeeaaaase can I keep it? Pleeeeeeeeeeeeaaaase?_

Soundwave rolled his optics, but he couldn't deny Ratbat's words.

If he confiscated the car, Ratbat would predictably throw a tantrum to end all tantrums, and then drag his siblings into the dispute. The Communications officer was fully capable of dealing with all of his creations if they attempted to be truculent, but when it involved Ratbat, and factoring in the knowledge that the little bat's siblings could never deny him anything…

The navy blue mech sighed.

At least it was a well-designed car.

'Do you promise that you will not grow bored of the car in two weeks, as you did with the Ferrari or the three BMWs you _insisted_ you had to have?'

_I **promise** I won't get bored of it!!_

Soundwave's expression softened imperceptibly as he scooped Ratbat up with one arm, and hoisted the Exige up with the other.

'Acceptable.'

The little bat chittered happily as he watched his creator carefully set his newest toy onto the workbench, quickly pressed his advantage, and burrowed deeper into Soundwave's arms.

_Want snuggles._

Soundwave's smirk was hidden under his facemask, for which he was eternally grateful. 'There is a distinct pattern to your behaviour whenever this situation occurs, and it always appears to end with you demanding 'snuggles'.'

Ratbat summoned up his most adorable squeak of contentment and stared up at his creator, optics wide and endearing once again.

_Want snuggles!_

The Communications officer opted not to argue with the manipulative little flying mech, and instead simply tightened his embrace around his youngest creation and closed his optics.

Neither creator nor creation moved for a long time after that.

* * *

END


End file.
